Mayor’s State of the City Address Highlights Council’s Strategic Priorities

May 15, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brandon, MB – Brandon City Council has committed to six strategic priority areas to move the community forward in the balance of its elected term and beyond, Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest announced today in his fifth annual State of the City address.

In a speech to a lunchtime crowd of 425 people in attendance at the Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s May luncheon event at Brandon’s Keystone Centre, Mayor Chrest noted that his newly-elected City Council of eight returning and two new Councillors undertook a very productive strategic planning session in late-April, with two days of spirited discussion distilled down to a half-dozen priority areas of focus. Specifically, the areas of economic development, recreation and greenspaces, infrastructure, social partnerships, downtown resurgence, and fiscal sustainability will receive focused attention from Council.

“Certainly, the City of Brandon has a broad range of extremely important responsibilities and services that have significant impacts for residents, and the many day-to-day operations of our City departments and Council responsibilities will continue to receive robust and professional attention,” noted Chrest. “However, Council has identified these six strategic priority areas that will receive additional focus during this term and beyond, and we are excited to work with our capable City administration to identify short-and-long term project goals within this strategy.”

Chrest noted that while they won’t be specific priority areas identified within the official strategy document to be released in the coming months, City Council has also placed high importance on building a culture of bold and innovative thinking, and ensuring that environment and climate change are considered in all of the corporation’s short-and-long term actions.

The Mayor also took time during his speech to highlight the previous Council’s strategic investments in both on-the-ground and underground core infrastructure, updates to the City’s current recreation facilities, continued support for downtown redevelopment, and the community’s successful return to large-scale event hosting. He noted, however, that significant challenges remain ahead for the City of Brandon, the Brandon Police Service and all the organizations working together to combat the social issues of drug addiction and associated crime that has taken hold in the community.

The Mayor’s address was live streamed for the general public on the City of Brandon’s YouTube channel, with a video archive of the speech also to be posted on the channel in the near future.